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Friday, February 03, 2006

George Ryan's day of infamy

Government attorneys put on quite a bit of evidence against former Gov. George Ryan during the four-month prosecution phase of the federal corruption trial of Ryan and his friend Larry Warner, but  I can recall nothing that the prosecution has said so far that was as outrageous, dismaying,  vulgar and disgusting as the  evidence brought forward by  Ryan's own attorneys on the  first day of the defense case.

To wit-- that Ryan annually accepted cash from even his low paid  employees; cash that was stuffed into a Christmas card  bearing an obsequious message about what a great boss he was. 

It was perfectly legal for him to accept such gifts. Indeed as our story points out, the testimony that Ryan's lawyers elicited from Ryan's former secretary on this point "was intended to answer a prosecution charge that Ryan mysteriously carried around wads of cash but rarely made bank withdrawals."

Legal but reprehensible. Legal but damnable.  Legal but completely unthinkable for decent people.

Before you take our click poll, Let me ask you this:

In  all the years you may have been working, have you ever even  thought of giving your boss cash gifts at Christmastime?

Or, if you are a boss, have you ever received (much less kept) a cash gift from an employee?

I've had a number of bosses in a number of different positions since my first dishwashing gig in the mid 1970s -- some of them I admired very much.  But it never crossed my mind to cross their palms.

In fact, isn't that the way it's supposed to work?  Christmas comes around and the boss hands out a ham or a bonus check (never cash)?

Read this passage again:

On the first day of its case, the defense called (former Ryan secretary Vicki) Easley to show that during Ryan's four years as governor and eight years as secretary of state, he received an estimated $1,500 to $4,000 in cash each year in a Christmas gift card from staffers.

Several cards were admitted into evidence, including one that announced on the cover: "You work hard all year long at being a TERRIFIC BOSS and what does it get you?"

Under questioning by Timothy McCaffrey, a Ryan lawyer, Easley said that employees knew of the annual collection by word of mouth and that the contributions were voluntary....The gifts came from department heads to janitors, students and receptionists, she said.

Voluntary but, as Easley said, Ryan did keep a list of who gave and how much.

Accepting money from janitors, students and receptionists when you're the highest paid guy in the office isn't criminal, but it certainly is contemptible.

Ryan may still have his freedom when this trial is over, but Thursday he lost his reputation for good.

(Click poll link)



Accepting cash gifts from staffers, especially janitors, students, and receptionists who have little, is reprehensible. I have a sinking feeling Ryan will worm his way out of jail time. I can only hope this trial destroys what's left of his reputation.

What a scumbag? Absolute power corrupts absolutely

I know EZ loves to poke fun at Sneed, but I recall when the Republican Convention was in NYC, she had an item mocking the then-Secretary of State for bringing something like 8 bodyguards with him. Obviously, these guys weren't there to protect the Illinois Secretary of State from threats. This expense was picked up the the citizens of Illinois! He's ALWAYS been a crook!

George Ryan may be found not quilty, but he knows what he did, and he will have to live with that, but I doubt he'll have any trouble, as it's always been about George Ryan.

Well, isn't upward redistribution of income a hallmark of Republican philosphy? So, this is completely consistent with Guardians Of Privilege thinking.

Please, outraged citizens, Ryan is the tiniest tip of the Illinois corruption iceberg. The first thing our elected leaders and lawmakers learn when they're not wrapping themselves in religious piety, patriotism and pro-life mantras is "Pass it on. This is how things are done. Dog eat dog. Hire cronies and family first, regardless of competence." Oh, and best of all, "Where's mine?" Look around. Billy Graham's an unrepentant anti-Semite, on tape with Richard Nixon. George W. Bush got a pass on insider trading that netted him nearly 800 thousand dollars, and Martha Stewart went to the slammer for a measley 43 grand. At least Ryan saved some innocent lives alongside his corruption. Bush is killing and killing every day, with no end in sight, and we keep paying for it. Where's the outrage for Bush?

Just remember, Daley and Hasert wanted Dan Webb to be US Attorney, not Patrick Fitzgerald. Thank G_d the senate was 50-50 back then (Bush was afraid to alienate Peter Fitzgerald and override his traditional privilege to make the pick).

Ryan should re-think his choice of a defense team. For a lawyer to put on testimony that shows his client to be such a low-life as to accept money from his employees, to explain why he had so much cash, is just plain stupid. Even if they could account for all the cash he spent during the 9 years he took $6,000 out of the bank, do they believe that jury is going to buy the story? And if they do, don't they see that they've just pictured him as a total sleaze who is probably guilty of all the other charges brought against him? Dan Webb ought to step back and think about what he's doing.

Let's hope that Ryan's defense is as nasty as possible, so as to make jurors even more eager to throw the book at him.

This is Illinois and Chicago politics, as usual. Yes, Ryan is a scumbag, but the majority of Illinois politicians always have been, all the way back to Lincoln and before. Politicians everywhere are amazing, but poor Illinois seems to have a higher ratio of scumbag per capita than we usually find elsewhere.

Completely reprehensible. If it's not illegal, it should be. There's no excuse for a supervisor accepting cash from a subordinate.

One question: Was this Christmas cash bonus activity restricted to George Ryan's tenures as Secretary of State and Governor? Or has the activity been practiced at other departmnents?

As usual, things like this are never heard about until a person if fighting for his freedom. He was taking people's food money so he could go on vacations and use this for tips, since his vacations were also free. I am convinced this morally corrupt person is also criminally corrupt.

This is nothing new. My friend, who is now 50, told me that when she worked for the Park District as a teen, she was required to buy tickets to some golf outing, costing her a good quarter of what she was earning for the summer.

This is politics in our good ol' state, and I'm glad this is all coming out so it can be stopped.

All good Republican _working_ i-dot boys know about Christmas cards.

At the end of the day, there is very little room in George Ryan's heart for anyone other than himself.

If the jury is anything like the group that took your poll, they'll give this evidence the weight it deserves.

Well, after receiving such generous gifts from staffers who were employees of the state, did Mr. Ryan give his staff any Christmas gift(s) in return?

I am reminded of a quote I cannot offhand remember who it is by: "A man's character is his own fate."

So.... if it had been a $1,500 to $4,000 gift card to, I dunno... Marshall Field's... would it have been equally damnable?

I'm having trouble figuring out what you're trying to say. The bosses where I work give out the Christmas gifts, and we reciprocate. Is there some sort of ethical breach taking place I don't know about?

I agree with Eric's column 100%, but I would just add this caveat. Cash gifts to the boss are unthinkable, and just plain weird--in every business BUT politics. When we have a system that forces our politicians to spend most of their time raising money, cash gifts to the boss are the most thoughtful gift an employee could give. This trial is, in part, about whether Ryan used those gifts legally. But the larger problem is the campaign-financing system that forces politicians to be obsessed with money and encourages behavior that is seedy at best, and often illegal. Time for public financing of elections!

The fact that the defense team chose to put this evidence on is a sign they think they're in trouble. It's ironic that when former Attorney General William Scott was on trial, Ryan testified for him that people came up to Scott all the time and gave him cash for no reason besides affection. Didn't work then; I bet it doesn't work now.

I wonder if Ryan, or any of the legions of elected officials caught (or "allegedly" caught) at such despicable behavior, have ever stopped to consider that every such case undermines the foundations of our society? The precipitant growing cynicism and plunging confidence in our government at all levels places America on a course to eventually become little more than a banana republic.

Greed is such a powerful narcotic.

If Georgie knew he had inherited an office "with a culture of corruption" why did he think stuffing cash in his pockets was any different than stuffing cash into shoe boxes as Powell did. In addition, did anyone of those employees or even Ryan himself even bother sending a card or anything at all but denials to the Willis family?

And I thought going in on a Harry & David basket for my boss was generous.

Was the money given as gifts from his employees really bribe money from lobbyists being routed through the workers? Did Ryan and his cronies design this system and force workers to take part in it to try to hide where the money was coming from?

I guess Ryan's defense is willing have him admit to being without conscience, as long as it proves him, even if ever so slightly, on the right side of the law. However, it surprises me that the practice is legal in Illinois state government. It's not in the Federal system. The only instance I can remember of this happening was back in the early '70s when an executive in our organization accepted "loans" from some subordinates. The loans were never repaid (his horses didn't win), the ensuing scandal took him down, and needless to say the "promotions" of the lenders were suspect. I wonder how Ryan's gift givers have fared on appraisals and promotions.

I was just discussing this case with some of my co-workers yesterday until I read about the case and the gift cards. Initially I felt that (based on the news reports) the prosecution was going to prove its case. Now it looks like George Ryan's own attorneys have done that for him. I was shocked thatthis man would actually accept cash gifts from his employees and have the audacity to presume that this was a perfectly normal thing to do. I think George is going to look nicein stripes. I hear they make one look "thinner.".

It is amazing to me that after hearing for literally years about George's inability to remember relatively large details, that he was actually keeping a list and doing the math on something so small as a 25 to 100 dollar contribution. Is this farce so complete that he actually believes his own b.s. Even worse is that this mans supreme arrogance has convinced him that we should believe it to. I say make George, Larry and the rest of the little gang of thieves and liars repay every penny they scammed as well as the State's (our) trail expense.

Not surprised to see that the Republican "culture of corruption" extends from the Statehouse all the way to the Whitehouse.

Hey, we all knew Ryan was a crook back when he was Illinois State Secretary, and Bush was a crook after his first stolen election (given to him by his crooked brother), but the Republicans voted straight down their tickets anyway.

This is the problem with having a winner-take-all two-party system. Crooks and crooked parties tend to stay around, long past their welcome.

As the boss of a small consulting firm, I only wish this had come out in the trial before Christmas. Now I have to wait until December to institute a new 'holiday guideline.' Or maybe we can celebrate Lincoln's birthday a little differently this year...

I remember Mike Royko once supported a proposed move to raise the salaries of Chicago aldermen. He reasoned that if they were paid better they might spend less time pursuing graft and paybacks and that it might ultimately make them better persons. Perhaps the defense might suggest that Ryan's staffers were thinking along those lines and that here is the proof, a George Ryan who was kept on the straight and narrow by the financial support of his lowly staff. Yeah, that's it.

Benjamin Groz, where do you get the idea that "Ryan saved some innocent lives alongside his corruption"?

What he did was cause the deaths of the six Willis children because of his corruption. Plus an unknown number of others from crashes caused by the unqualified truck drivers that got licenses from the Sec. of State's office.

And now we know why there were all those bodyguards with him when he went to the Repub convention. They weren't guarding Ryan, they were guarding all the cash he was getting from bribe givers!

I grew up in Kankakee and George is the poster boy his associates have long belived that the people owe them

I believe that Mr. Groz was referring to the moratorium that Ryan placed on the death penalty in Illinois reight before he left office. While I am glad that he did it also given the number of innocent people who routinely find themselves on death row, I think that Ryan is still a scumbag and that he only did it to score some lat minute glory as his career ended.

George Ryan is the highest paid person in his office? Maybe-for the four years that he serves. But there are many state employees earning well over $90,000 annually for 30 years at a time. Should they give their temporary bosses gift cards or cash for the holidays? Keeping your job and earning $90,000 annually makes that decision very easy folks....it's legal and perfectly understandable..its not about character, its about having money for your family for Christmas year after year....politics and nothing more..its going on everyday in Illinois....

I've always heard it said that a ploitician has to serve at least two term, the first to learn where the money is and the second to grab it. I guess George was an extremely fast learner. He started grabbin right away at the state level. I wonder what he did at the local level.... Just lump him in with the DeLays, Frists, Hasterts and Bushes of this world...

Yes, the wonderful moratorium old George put out AFTER his name came up as part of the Fed's investigation. How convenient.

The only mitigating factor in Ryan's case is that he didn't invent the system of GOP graft at the state level -- Big Jim did, who passed it on the Edgar, who passed it on the Ryan. Just ask anybody who worked in either of the earlier admins.

So while it looks like Ryan is well on his way to getting what he deserves, I nevertheless feel sorry for him that he is being forced to take the entire blame for a system the he simply inherited.

I wonder if George Ryan (ILLINOIS First) and the Jim Thompson (Build Illinois)law firm that is spending over $10 million on Ryan's defense will be able to structure another "deal" to protect Ryan?

I, sadly voted for George Ryan because of his positions on raising taxes. So what did Governor Ryan do? He raised taxes to the tune fo 11 Billion. He raised liquor taxes among others but what has really hurt was his raising license plates tags from $48.00 to $78.00. This really hurt the poor people of Illiois. Governor Ryan went back on his word in rasing taxes and that makes his a liar. Another thing was his commutation of all death sentenses in Illinois. He didn't have to do that. There were clearly hundreds of people that deserved to die for their crimes. Governor Ryan could care less about the victims of crime.

Come on folks, I worked for several bosses in and out of state govenment, and have given money for Christmas gifts for all of them. I have known George Ryan for almost 40 years, and he has been a good and faithful public servant.

I have chafed at the news reports of all the people who have been convicted, and the media seems to say that they were all employees of the Secretary of State. They don't say that the great majority DIDN'T work for the Secretary of State's Office. They also don't mention that the great majority of those in the Secretary of State's employ were hired by George Ryan's predecessors, and the one that distributed the bribe money to the manager of Hillside Facility retired BEFORE George was Secretary of State. I just wish that the press would give Georgew an even break.

And by the way, where did our current governor, who was going to clean everything up, get his $40 million in contributions since 2001?? Could it be because he's a Chicago Democrat that this is perfectly legal, and any Republican that collects this kind of money (which is George Ryan's case took 40 years) IS GUILTY OF A CRIME?

I might be a hick from the country in Southern Illinois, but this whole trial smells of political empire-building.

In China, where I taught English for three years, it is more or less mandatory for people to give the boss cash at New Years--at least, those who want to get ahead.

Here's the chain of info we need to know...cash bribe from unqualified/illegal driver at test facility goes to test official. Driver gets illegal license. The bribe then makes it's way up the chain in the SOS office in the way of "tickets" bought or cash donations. Ultimately, it's a wad of cash in George's Sans-a-Belts. Meanwhile, new unqualified driver goes out and causes the deaths of an innocent family. And that's all BEFORE he was Governor. Please.

What other Illinois pols take cash gifts from their subordinates?

It seems like the question should be included in newspaper candidate questionnaires.

Finally, an admission that George Ryan shook someone down for money; his employees. How does that work? Do they pass around an envelope, a hat, or does someone walk around the office jiggling a big can and handing out lollipops to everyone who donates?

ZORN REPLY -- There was no admission of a shake-down by Ryan or anyone. You can connect the dots as you like -- yeah, the janitor was so moved by his affection for his boss that he decided he'd rather give his cash to Ryan than spend it on his loved ones-- but last I read (I'm not at the trial today) no one has testified to any coercion to donate.

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